Page 7 of Shining Pearls
Once my daughter was out of earshot, I hissed at the cop, “But I stabbed him in the head with one of the metal rod springs from my mattress. How could he have survived that?”
“I don’t know, ma’am. But we performed a thorough search of the house, basement, and surrounding areas. There was a blood trail, but he wasn’t there.”
When I merely bugged my eyes out in their direction, the burly cop broke his silence. Clearing his throat, he said in a deep voice, “It appears that he dragged himself outside.”
My mind was whirling and causing dizziness. I reached a hand behind me to find the sofa and sit down. Skinny cop jumped forward to help me ease down next to my sister, Meg.
My eyes must have betrayed my terror when I asked, “So, he’s still on the loose?” because the officer immediately tried to calm my fears.
“He couldn’t have gone far. He lost a lot of blood. We have a dedicated team out searching for him, and we’re posting a security detail outside your home.”
“We’ll catch him,” pudgy cop promised.
I gawked up at the over-confident man, desperate to believe him, but aware there was no way he could know that. The realization that this nightmare might not yet be over wafted over me like a chilly drizzle of freezing rain.
My arms were folded across my chest, and I felt my shoulders cave inward as I rocked back and forth. It was a familiar position that I had spent a great deal of time in during the past year.
I heard Alex’s sister, Avery, before I saw her. She yelled out to her brother from the entryway, “So, I guess I have to stop calling you ‘killer’ now?”
“I guess so,” Alex came out of the kitchen, smiling widely at her and drying his hands off on a dish towel. He wrapped the tiny spitfire into a hug.
Avery patted him on the back to put a quick end to his embrace before pulling back and asking, “Where’s my Hannah-Hannah Bo-Bannah?”
“Right here,” the little girl ran forward and grinned up at her aunt.
“Ohhh. I didn’t see you way down there.” Avery kneeled down to the child’s eye level. “So, how are you? Is it just another typical day around here?”
The woman pretended like she didn’t notice the cops or the flurry of activity going on around them.
“No. It’s the best day ever.” Hannah’s huge eyes blinked up at her aunt. “Mommy came home!”
“What?!?” Avery screeched, pretending like the child’s announcement was news to her.
My lips turned up at Avery’s typical, over-the-top theatrics as I continued rocking in my seat. Meg tried to comfort me by patting my leg, but I couldn’t help but stare at the bones in her hand. My sister had always been thin and misleadingly frail looking, but she appeared to have lost at least twenty pounds during the year I’d been gone. Her frame was practically skeletal.
As much as I hated Kevin Durley for what he’d done to me, the physical and emotional tolls he’d taken on our family were unfathomable. I’d sent my mother home earlier because her ghostly pallor and sunken eyes made her look like she was on the verge of passing out at any moment.
Avery made her way over to the sofa and squatted down in front of me. “Hey, you.”
The warmth in Alex’s sister’s eyes was comforting. She and I had never been the best of friends, but deep-down we cared for each other. Avery pulled me in for a hug. It was the first time we’d hugged since my wedding, but somehow it didn’t feel awkward.
When she finally pulled back, she made eye contact with Meg. An immediate frost filled the air. Avery narrowed her eyes in Meg’s direction, but didn’t bother with a greeting. Instead, she scooted up onto the couch on the other side of me.
Suddenly, I felt like I was right in the middle of a battle zone where I wasn’t even privy to the cause of the war.What the heck had happened in the year I was gone?Avery and Meg had always enjoyed an easy camaraderie––especially once Hannah was born. They both liked spoiling their niece rotten before sending her home to me, and they had spent many hours bonding over it.
The room bustled around us as I tried to imagine what could have happened between the women flanking me to make them dislike each other so strongly. The seething hatred was practically emanating off Avery in angry little waves.
Shaking my head, and deciding to question Meg about it once we were alone, I turned to Avery. “I heard you say something about no longer calling Alex ‘killer.’ Were there actually people who believed he had something to do with my disappearance?”
“Mm-hmm,” she nodded. “Almost everyone in town blamed him, and that one,” she thumbed my sister, “Led the witch hunt.”
I whirled around to look at my sister. She was staring down at the beige carpet and didn’t deny the accusation. Blinking rapidly, I tried to assimilate this new knowledge with the reality I thought I knew.
Speaking under my breath and not really expecting an answer, I said, “I was only gone a year, right?”
7
Josie
